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VATICAN CITY — In our First Take: Vatican video today, Msgr. Philip Whitmore talks about his experience translating Pope Benedict XVI’s latest book, “Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives.” He explains how the pope had handwritten notes for the book, but dictated and recorded the final text!

Msgr. Whitmore, a priest of England’s Westminster Diocese and an official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, also kindly lent his voice to our Christmas Eve video, which featured the reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of St. Luke.

If that weren’t enough, the English monsignor is an accomplished pianist and a music historian, who regularly appears on Vatican Radio’s English program discussing hymns and other church music. On Wednesday, Vatican Radio posted a very interesting piece by Msgr. Whitmore on the history of Christmas carols, featuring beautiful renditions of many of the songs he discussed.

As the Christmas season continues, stay tuned to our YouTube channel or check the site of one of our diocesan multimedia clients (like this or this) for another CNS video featuring the monsignor.